Autobiographical memory and parasuicide in borderline personality disorder.

Journal article

BACKGROUND: Several studies have found that parasuicidal patients are poor at recalling specific autobiographical memories when tested with the word-cueing paradigm and two studies have reported some evidence that over-general recall is a risk factor for repetition of parasuicide. The aim of the present study was to test whether this association could be replicated with a sample of patients suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD). METHOD: Twenty-three patients with BPD completed a version of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) and self-report measures of depression, anxiety and trait anger. In a structured interview, they also reported the number of times they had engaged in parasuicidal acts during the previous 4 months. RESULTS: The number of general memories produced on the AMT made a significant contribution to the prediction of the frequency of parasuicidal acts in a multiple regression analysis but the partial correlation in the final equation was negative. That is, those who showed greatest over-general recall reported fewest parasuicidal acts. Anxiety and depression, but not trait anger, also made significant independent contributions to the prediction of parasuicide. CONCLUSION: Over-general autobiographical recall may help to protect borderline individuals from parasuicidal acts by helping them to avoid distressing memories.

Authors: Startup, M; Heard, H; Swales, M; Jones, B; Williams, J

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: British journal of clinical psychology / the British Psychological Society
• Volume: 40
• Issue: Pt 2
• Pages: 113-120
• Publication date: 2001-06-01
• DOI: 10.1348/014466501163535
• ISSN: 0144-6657
• Language: English
• Keywords: Adult; Middle Aged; Adolescent; Hostility; Anger; Vocabulary; Borderline Personality Disorder; Neuropsychological Tests; Autobiography as Topic; Female; Humans; Suicide, Attempted; Self-Injurious Behavior; Memory Disorders; Severity of Illness Index; Male; Cues